Republican Kevin Mannix dropped incendiary allegations on his Fifth Congressional District opponent Monday, alleging in a direct mail appeal to 60,000 GOP voters that Mike Erickson impregnated a woman eight years ago, then paid for her to have an abortion rather than take responsibility for the child.

Except for a two-year-old e-mail, purportedly from a friend of the woman who had an abortion, the Mannix campaign offered no evidence to support the claims. The mailing blacked out the last name and e-mail address of the author, identifying her as Kristi and her friend as Tawnya.

Erickson, who emphasizes family values and right-to-life positions in his campaign literature, denied the claims.

"These false allegations are exactly the kind of politics that people want changed, and the kind of desperate smear that Kevin Mannix resorts to," Erickson said in a statement. "These unsubstantiated and untrue allegations are from an e-mail from 2006 that no news media reported at the time. They are just as untrue today as they were then."

Mannix declined to comment on whether he made any attempt to verify the claims before forwarding copies of the e-mail to voters, along with a personal letter dated May 12. Mannix's campaign manager, Amy Langdon, said the campaign has had no direct contact with either woman and that the e-mail came to them last week through a third party.

"Many people have suggested to me that I allow some other party to share this information with you so that I can stand by and watch the situation develop," Mannix said in his letter. "I believe it is important for me to take personal responsibility for sharing this story."

Erickson for Congress spokesman Cary Evans issued the following statement in response to recent Mannix accusations:

"Kevin Mannix is desperate and resorting to politics-as-usual because he knows he is losing. Mannix's wild accusations are unbelievable and not credible. These false allegations are exactly the kind of politics that people want changed, and the kind of desperate smear that Kevin Mannix resorts to. These unsubstantiated and untrue allegations are from an email from 2006 that no news media reported at the time. They are just as untrue today as they were then."